[katello-devel] Partial updates discussion

[Bryan Kearney]

On 07/22/2011 10:13 PM, Tomas Strachota wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'd like to start discussion about partial updates in katello. They are
> now used only in changeset controller for updating the content but there
> will be more space for them in future and the implementation should be
> consistent. At least one another place where we can use it now is
> updating templates.
>
> Currently the patches that are sent to the server are in custom json
> format. Eg.
>
> {
> '+products': ['product_1']
> '-products': ['product_2']
> '+packages': [{'name': 'warnerbros', 'product': 'product_3'}]
> }
> #adds product_1 and package warnerbros, removes product_2
>
> The implementation is very simple and works without any problem. It
> should be sufficient as long as we update whole db fields (and not let's
> say parts of long textual fields).
>
> Dmitri pointed out the fact that it is custom format and proposed using
> standard diff output format. His primary idea was to diff the current
> state with the changed one and send the patch to server alongside with a
> timestamp.
>
> These are two designs we have. I'd like to gather other ideas, compare
> pros & cons, pick the best one and reimplement if necessary. All
> comments are welcome. Dmitri, could you please provide more information
> about your solution?
>
>

If we have the old and new why not just send a complete replacement?

-- bk